D1 RC UK Drift Series - the 2013 Season Review!

Fri, 29th November 2013

And so ends another busy and exciting summer season in the long
history of D1RC, one of wowing the crowds at car shows and, most
importantly, the six rounds of the UK national championship, the
Drift Series. Throughout, competition levels in both the
novice Club Class and the expert Pro Class was as high as ever with
new faces appearing at almost every round, proving that drifting is
no longer a niche class in RC motor sport.

Using two club tracks for the 2013 series, Colchester MCC and
Eastbourne ECC, three times each, we used all our old favourite
drift circuits and even a few new ones, both circuits offering so
many course options that so perfectly suit our needs – lots
of corners joined by short straights, all joined by cross roads and
islands.

The main features of the season were that modified race chassis
were no longer competitive. You had to be running a dedicated
drift design and, even then, many of us would modify those beyond
recognition! The second head line was that of the emerging
2WD drift chassis, with only home brewed examples appearing in very
small numbers (though that’s due to change) and too late in
the season to compete, though as you read this a round of 2WD
competition has already occurred in the Winter indoor series.

For myself, John Turner, and Simon Landgrebe, both Team HPI/HB
drivers, the season was good. Both competing in the Pro Class
we managed to make quite a few podium places, four for myself and
two for Simon, which gave us final positions of 2nd and
6th in a Pro field of 12 drivers. Try as I might,
I could not bring down Dave Shaw-Mathews who took the series win
with almost a round to spare but it was till close, round on round,
packed with some memorable battles. Roll on 2014!

Also worthy of a mention was the Players car show, now a regular
in the D1RC calendar and possibly the biggest UK car show of the
year. As last year, we were given the prime spot in the main
hanger of North Weald airdrome where thousands of spectators were
kept glued to our safety fence to watch lots of mini comps and
general showing off all day, the HPI T-Drift proving to be the
perfect tyre for the resin coated hanger floor!

There was also an indoor event that merits a mention, the Battle
King meet hosted by Drift Essex where I managed to qualify first
after some 20 battles, none lost, in an all league style qualifying
where everyone battled with everyone else. Unfortunately, in
the knockout style finals I succumbed to Pete Gray in the final,
but 2nd kept me happy!

And for the winter series? With the introduction of the
2WD class I intend to run from round 2 a much modified HPI Pro4
which will buck the trend of front mounted motor.
There’s so much ballast being used on 2WD cars that what goes
where isn’t as important as keeping the weight split to the
front and rear, creating that slow response that makes the
inherently unstable cars drivable – that and HPI’s
great D-Box, now back in stock!

Finally, thanks again come from all of the competitors for
HPI’s continuing support of the D1RC Drift Series, and indeed
for the forthcoming winter series – thank you HPI!